Kids Email

Although we can't help you decide at what age your child is ready to have her own email account, we can point you in the direction of something to explore when weighing the pros and cons. Kids Email is a service (we reviewed the web-based program) that offers email accounts for children in a safe and age appropriate environment.

Parental controls offer a variety of filters such as blocking spam, inappropriate language, images, and advertisements. Parents can monitor their child's emails to varying degrees. They can choose to be copied on all emails or to read each email before approving it for a child's inbox. If someone outside of the child's contact list tries to send an email to him, the email will first go to the parent, who can either approve or deny the email. Additionally, parents can limit email use to specific days and times in which a child has access. So if homework isn't finished, or someone was rude to Grandma, email login will be denied.

The free 30-day trial offer is a good way to test drive the concept and the service. Although we saw a few different pricing structures on the site, we found that after the trial period, parents may continue on a month-to-month basis (up to four email accounts for one monthly fee of $4.95) or, as of this review period, KidsEmail was offering a special 13 month rate of $38.95 for up to six email accounts.